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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Restaurant News

Hurrah! It looks as if the Millionaires' Playground is to get yet another fine dining experience! Not only is the Cannes of Kent home to one of the best eateries in the south east, Age & Sons (dubbed 'the finest restaurant in Thanet' in today's Observer), but now top chef John Burton Race is re-opening Harveys, on Ramsgate's rip-roaring royal harbour, as a fantastic fish restaurant.

According to the excellent yourfannitinnit, JBR has coughed up 250 big ones to transform this formerly hideous boozer, which has been boarded up for the last year, into the dogfish's bollocks of piscine cuisine. The celebrity chef already has Michelin-rated nosheries under his belt. Shame, though, that Thanet College alumnus Gary Rhodes, who was once rumoured to have been in the frame to open up here, seems to have got cold feet. His puddings are yum! Of course, we already have one fish restaurant on the Croisette - Atlantis. But being a Thorley establishment I have to say from experience that that's more like Captain Digby Deluxe.

So, Ramsgate now has two top restaurants to Margate's one (the superb Indian Princess). And as reported exclusively by yours truly, Eddie Gilbert the fishmonger on Ramsgate's 'King Street will soon be serving fish and chips fit for a, er, king. But what about the poor old Dickensians? Surely the betweeded grannies, second homers and perma-tanned builders' wives in Boredstares deserve something a bit better than scampi in a basket? The deliciously delightful Oscar Road Cafe is all well and good for the best crab sandwiches in Kent during the day, but what about sophisticated dining once the sun's gone down? Well, step forward this joint:

Restaurant 54, the new gaff at the top of Harbour Street, opposite the Dolphin meat market. It's had umpteen different guises in the past few years, prompting the double glazing and conservatory millionaires who were leaving as I passed by last night to ponder whether the name referred to the number of owners it's had since the turn of the century.

Still, from what I overheard they appeared to have enjoyed their meal, and of course it was only a short waddle for them down the hill to Harpers wine bar, where they no doubt rounded off the evening by larging it with the WAGS (of other double glazing and conservatory millionaires) before belling the missus to come and chauffeur them back to Kingsgate in the old V8 Range Rover.

It may be something to do with having had young children for most of the last 20 years, and that Italian restaurants are very child friendly, I haven’t got as far as trying Age and son yet as we tend to eat out as a family and part of the pleasure for us is visiting a different town.

Oh yes and thanks for the link to Thanet Council Press Releases, with the council now Twittering I am hoping that they will soon get their own blog for them and save me the trouble.

Took the nippers and Mrs to the Indian Princess last week ,great food as ever but slightly marred by a knuckle dragging moron coming in demanding a chicken korma. When told he could not have one the effing and blinding started, and went on for about five minutes. I got an earful when I told him his behaviour in front of kids was awful.

The Oserver piece was frankly a joke.The usual lazy journalism , I wonder if they even came to Thanet.Albion street a great place to shop ?ruined by non-pedestrianisation high parking costs and rip off rates , there are hardly any shops left there. The pub recommendations were pretty poor as well , and Oscar Road cafe hardly ever open , vanity project for its journalist owner must have been hard getting that listed. On the back of those suggestions I would never come back again if I was a tourist

The Oserver piece was frankly a joke.The usual lazy journalism , I wonder if they even came to Thanet.Albion street a great place to shop ?ruined by non-pedestrianisation high parking costs and rip off rates , there are hardly any shops left there. The pub recommendations were pretty poor as well , and Oscar Road cafe hardly ever open , vanity project for its journalist owner must have been hard getting that listed. On the back of those suggestions I would never come back again if I was a tourist

wow a bankrupt ex tv chef....i can almost smell the accelarant in the air ...and 756 is right the observer piece was the usual glib nonsense..that template must have made it round all the broadsheets by now..

The Shell Grotto was the only cultural offering, I bet there is more to do in South Ossetia.

I live in Boredstares and have never seen Albion Street as the happening shopping area. We lost Albion Books last year which was good ,whats left is a fossil shop , a barmy place selling new mystic junk and plaster fairies, and a overpriced secondhand bookshop .

This not enough for me to walk the odd 300yards from my house so it will not exactly lure a load of townies for a top notch retail experience.

I agree with the previous blogs about making it no cars or at least at controlled times

Does Broadstairs really need pedestrianising? After all, it's been such a success in Ramsgate and Margate (not). It'll just give the Stella swiggers a traffic-free place to hang out all day. That'll get the tourists flocking (to somewhere else).

Look at resorts in Cornwall like Snives and Penzance. They have created pedestrian-friendly precincts, but vehicles aren't banned. You just get fewer vehicles in these areas because the overwhelming number of pedestrians makes it very slow going, so you're better off parking slightly out of town.

And in Italy where their streets are even narrower you can still drive through most historic towns if you're mad enough. Technically speaking you can drive right up to the Campo in Siena if you feel like it but nobody does unless it's for delivery or to get to their gaff.

Kent Highways seem hellbent on wrecking Broadstairs for the sake of their own pet, box-ticking, budget-burning projects. The money would be better spent on improved lighting and signage IMO.

Personally I'd like to see a blanket ban on all vehicles with oil based internal combustion engines, while there's still enough crude oil left to manufacture the non-brewed condiment that day-trippers to the seaside love to put on their fish 'n' chips!Think of the possible benefits...No more planes.No more smelly cars.Greatly reduced supply of accelerants, used for circumventing property preservation orders.Significantly quieter lawn mowers on a Sunday morning.Output from this blog pared down to one post every two months. (Sorry Dickie, that one was meant to go under the heading 'pitfalls', but I didn't think one of those would help my argument too much).

The celebrity chef is 'helping launch' the restaurant, which will be owned by pub operator Richard Martin, well known to all local suppliers as *slow* with paying his invoices. Last I heard he was shipping his wine in from the NE because no merchant round here would give him the *credit* he wants!

And being right under Manston's main flight path, I'm sure that lunch will be an exciting, nay orgasmic, experience for you, dear.Cheap too, if you go for the heads that your close friend cooks!Do they have an arse chef, too?In my experience, most restaurants do.

To Anonymous 7.56. As the owner of the Oscar Road Cafe, I can assure you that is far from a vanity project. And I have no connection with the writer of the Observer piece, nor had any knowledge that they had been in until afterwards. Perhaps they liked it because it's good? Also, we are regularly open every Thurs to Sun, hopefully you'll make it for a slice of the Isle's most excellent cake one of these days... Marina x

Overheard in Thanet

Is your hot chocolate gluten free?Man at kioskJust wait til I get hold of yer, yer cunt. Yer fuckin' door won't save yer!Man on phone in streetThere were dead bodies everywhere at my fuckin' birfday do. No, seriously, my missus had to give one bloke CPR!Man on phone in streetYer can't smoke in a petrol station can yer? Fuck it, I'm gonna light up anyway. If I blow meself up I'm gonna charge you compensation!Woman to staff member at petrol stationWhat happened to all those Socialist Workers eh? They joined the bloody Labour Party, that's what!Man to woman in WaitroseSo I grabbed the fuckin' potato peeler and stabbed the cunt.Man sitting outside barTwitter? That's the bit between a bird's twat and her shitter, isn't it?Man on trainYou know the medicine they give us was invented by the Germans in WW2 for their troops, so they could be shot?Man on streetYeah, well, he's a fucking bald headed cunt.Man at Margate football matchYou better choose your sweets, inch yer! I'm not a bleedin' psychic, inn I?Woman to small childI like haring but I don't like it when the dog just bites into it an' it fuckin' screams and then you 'ave to go an' chop it.Man in restaurantI'm a registered businessman!Man on phone in streetI luv 'im, even though 'e raped me an' bit me. 'Cos 'e respecks me.Woman talking to man in streetChild to baboon in animal park: 'Ello!Mother: Don't talk, MatthewChild: Why?Mother: 'Cos it's an animal.

If you come on and start having a go at Margate, it immediately puts everyone's shackles up.

Man talking about the warm-up act at the Alexei Sayle gig at the Theatre Royal, Margate'We are not expecting widespread flooding; however precautions have been deployed and we are doing our upmost to ensure all areas are secure and protected.'Thanet Council press release

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Much of the reason we experience noise on landing over Ramsgate is because training flights are precisely that. Half the time the pilots get too low and have to put their engines on... They are training and get it wrong! - Local pilot

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The Thanet Daily is a humour/satire/local gossip blog based on the Isle of Thanet in Kent. Opinions expressed on this site may not be suitable for minors, wilting flowers, or duffers. The content, opinions and comments contained in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of its author(s), fictional or otherwise. The Thanet Daily accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. The Thanet Daily is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Actually, if truth be told, the whole thing is a crock of shit.